


a royal warden

by annadavidson



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: DAPromptExchange, Friendship, Gen, asexual/aromantic warden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 02:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14415888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annadavidson/pseuds/annadavidson
Summary: There was an odd sensation this gave her, watching herself in the mirror as Leliana ran a brush through her hair.Prompt: The Warden has spent months on the road, sleeping rough, and generally living covered in dirt and darkspawn blood. Leliana helps her primp for the Landsmeet with nice clothes and a new hairstyle. It’s quite the shock to her companions.





	a royal warden

There was an odd sensation this gave her, watching herself in the mirror as Leliana ran a brush through her hair. She’d barely recognized herself in the gown her friend had picked out for her - a brilliant royal blue with sleeves that fell off her shoulders and silver jewelry. A necklace hung from her neck with a gold jewel. Earrings dangled, brushing the sides of her jaw when she moved her head. She wondered if this was how the Orzammar royal family felt.

It didn’t make her feel like she was above anyone else. There was still some semblance of herself in that mirror.

Leliana was humming as she brushed and clipped the dwarf’s hair up. This part…  _This_  was genuinely nice. Paige found herself closing her eyes, imagining she was back in Orzammar, Rica was braiding her hair and they were fantasizing about the life they would one day lead, the casts they would one day belong to. They had always been just that, fantasies. But now Bhelen owed her for keeping his ass on the throne, and she’d made him swear to give her sister a proper cast. And she was a warden now. She and Rica were no longer castless. They had gone their separate ways, but they were both freer than they ever had been before.

Now she had a new sister of sorts. Leliana had been a dear friend since they’d met in Lothering. They shared different religious views, that much was obvious, but it wasn’t hard to respect each others’ faith. She didn’t have to like the Chantry in order to respect Leliana’s faith.

When she opened her eyes, Paige still found a sister styling her hair, smiling fondly at her. Except it was Leliana, not Rica. But still, wherever she went, her ancestors had given her a sister to have by her side. She didn’t think she could have done this without Leliana and Morrigan. Yes, the men were important to her too, but there was something about a sisterhood. Leliana and Morrigan made her feel stronger than the others did. There was something special about women supporting other women.

Next came the makeup. She’d always done her own makeup, but no one had ever said she did a good job at that. Like everything else, it was odd, sitting still as Leliana applied her lipstick. Her friend’s face squished in concentration, making it very hard for Paige to resist laughing. When she was done, Leliana stood beside her, beaming with pride as she watched her friend look into the mirror.

Paige wondered if this was the beauty Rica had always seen in her. Looking at her reflection, she didn’t feel fully like herself, but she also didn’t feel completely unlike herself. It was, well,  _odd._

“That’s me,” she blurted out, eyes wide with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. “I’m still…  _Me.”_

“Of course you are,” Leliana replied, slinging one arm across the warden’s shoulders. “Nothing can ever change who you are.”

Paige found herself frowning faintly. “But I’m beautiful now.”

When the silence stretched, she looked up to see Leliana watching her with sad eyes.

“You have always been beautiful,” the bard assured her. She knelt down and placed a hand on her arm. “And you will always be beautiful.”

She took Leliana’s hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.  _“Thank you.”_

“Anytime.”

When they left the room, she had to hike her dress up in order to not step on it and trip. She’d worn dresses before, but never this nice. She’d never draped her body in silk - or was it satin? She’d never worn either of those materials so she had no clue what the difference was. She had nothing to compare this dress to except rags and her warden armor.

Alistair fumbled with his sword and ultimately dropped it when he saw her. Zevran grinned and let out a whistle. Morrigan met her eyes and matched her smile with a small one of her own, an unspoken word of approval between the two women. Oghren looked like he wanted to say something but was afraid of getting an axe tossed into his skull.

Good instincts, Paige thought.

“You look  _lovely,”_ Wynne said like the mother she obviously was. A better mother than Paige had ever had.

Shale huffed. “Can it still fight in that?”

Paige held her hands out, and Zevran placed her dagger in one and her axe in another. She tossed them up in the air and caught them by their hilts, grinning wickedly as she came to look at her friends.

“You bet your ass I can.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like/reblog on Tumblr [here](http://magicrobins.tumblr.com/post/173246034180/a-royal-warden).


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